If this is how Austrians (and Germans and Irish and Danes, etc.) grocery shop, I want no part. That’s my hot take after my inaugural visit to new Mt. Pleasant grocery store, ALDI, the German-founded subsidiary of Hofer KG of Austria. Short for Albrecht Discount, the Euro grocer promised Mt. P-ers a no-frills shopping experience and by God they’ve done it.
I cruised in on opening day to get a look for myself. [embed-1]The political bumper stickers on the SUVs in the parking lot should have been a red flag that perhaps this wouldn’t be my shopping nirvana, but never the less, I persisted.
[embed-2]After wrestling with a tangle of chained grocery carts, a savvy shopper informed me that I’d need to insert a quarter to free one.
[embed-3]ALDI’s signage is straightforward, like Grocery Shopping for Dummies.
[embed-4]The store has everything — $3 wine, canned corn beef hash, hand-held vacuum cleaners, sassy clerks who told a shopper “What?! The check-out lines aren’t that long!” Some people are gonna love it. Me?
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